NAC grows its retail location leadership position by opening eight additional NewLeaf stores in Alberta and one new META store in Manitoba this week

National Access Cannabis Corp., a best-practices leader in delivering secure, safe, and responsible access to legal cannabis in Canada, today announced that another eight NewLeaf Cannabis™ retail locations have received cannabis retail licenses and are expected to open this week in Alberta and one new Meta Cannabis Supply Co™ store has received a cannabis retail license and is expected to open this week in Manitoba.

The addition of nine new stores more than doubles the national number of NAC-owned and licensed cannabis retail stores to 17 — the most of any cannabis retailer in the country, excluding the Government of New Brunswick.

NAC’s Retail Plans for META and NewLeafNAC is looking to open a total of 50 locations between META and NewLeaf across Canada by the end of the year and plans to have a total of 150 retail locations operational during 2019, subject to regulatory approvals. With the aligned brand values of META and NewLeaf, NAC is well-positioned to support Canadian consumers and usher in a new era of responsible cannabis consumption.

“NAC, META and NewLeaf have quickly become established and effective leaders in Canada’s cannabis retail market,” said Mark Goliger, CEO of NAC. “We have a bold vision to lead recreational cannabis retail in this country and to date we have backed that up in a big way.”

NAC’s Alberta presence more than doubles with 13 NewLeaf retail storesWith this week’s openings, NewLeaf grows in size by 160 per cent in Alberta. NewLeaf now has 13-of-65 Alberta licensed stores, the most in the province for any retailer.

Customized training program the key to NewLeaf successIn early September, NewLeaf launched a customized, in-house employee training program in fully built stores. This best-practice program has since been implemented for more than 275 NewLeaf and META employees in Alberta and Manitoba as part of their retail training and education.

“Cannabis is coming out of a long period of prohibition, which has led to many misconceptions, and a lot of misinformation,” said Sarah Bezanson, Director of Training for NewLeaf Cannabis. “We wanted a program that would address that frankly and provide a scientific grounding in cannabis for our staff, equipping them to share that knowledge with our community.”

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